Hey! Here we are. Do you have any idea how hard it is to get six people to look at a camera? Seriously, it could drive you to drink.

I thought we should introduce ourselves. That's me, Lisa, the mom. I'm living the dream. No, really. This is my dream. Being a mom is really all I've ever wanted to do. I had an awesome career in marketing (advertising, branding, naming, packing, etc.) for a big tech company. I loved it, for a long time. But I always knew that, when the time came, this is what I would really want to be doing. It took longer than we thought it would to get pregnant, so by the time these little miracles came along I was more than ready for it! I love this job, and most of the time I think I'm pretty good at it. I love to cook, and I have a whole blog for that. Feeding 6 people is basically a full time job, so it's a good thing I enjoy it.

I also love photography. It's been an off and on hobby for me over the years, but over the last few years I feel like I'm finding my voice through my pictures. It's become my way to capture our memories, and to tell the story of our everyday lives through my pictures.

My husband is pretty awesome guy. He tries to act gruff, but I think he's loving this second-time-around dad thing more than he ever thought possible. He's a tech guy too, and part-time musician, lover of all kinds of music, and a much bigger soccer fan than I think his schedule allows. He took on an equal share of middle of the night wake-ups and feedings, and has probably changed more than his share of diapers. He does an amazing job of giving each of the kids an equal share of special dad attention, he puts all three girls to bed every night, and reads a lot more stories than I do. He balances me out when I run out of patience with the kids, and I like to think that I do the same for him.

So we had these twins, who were awesome and easy babies. So awesome and easy that we thought we'd have two more. They proved us wrong on the whole "twins are easy" thing, but they're awfully cute so I forgive them. So yeah, two sets of twins. Our days are unbelievably crazy and I fall in bed exhausted every night. But if you asked me what I'd change about my life, I don't think I could give you an answer. It's hard and exhausting and sometimes frustrating, but it's so rewarding and I wouldn't have it any other way.

I thought you might like to meet the kids:

Front and center, that's my boy. I think he's the height of a 10-year-old, but has a smaller waste than one of his little sisters. I wasn't sure what I was going to do, when the doc pulled this one out and my husband announced that it was a boy. I don't know the first thing about boys. I had sisters, and girl cousins, and girl friends. I played with dolls and did hair and joined a sorority. A boy? Scary. But he has proved to me that all things happen for a reason. He is the boy I was meant to have, and I learn something new from him every single day. He loves trains and cars and animals and music. But most of all he loves airplanes. He knows everything there is to know. He can spend hours watching for planes, talking about planes, asking questions about planes (he knows the answer, he just wants to hear you say it), looking at pictures and books of planes, watching videos of planes. Planes are his thing. Maybe he'll be an aeronautical engineer. But we have to get through that math homework first. We knew he was just a little different from the moment he was born. I can't even really describe to you why, but we just knew. There's a whole long story in how we got from that point, to his autism diagnosis at age 4, to where he is now at 8, thriving in school with lots of amazing help.

The goofy one next to him is his twin sister. She's 8 going on 14 and I am sometimes genuinely afraid of her. But mostly I am in awe of her. She is compassionate and loves everyone and always wants to make friends. She loves animals, especially horses. She is tall and lanky and clumsy, but confident in the knowledge that she is, and can be, good at everything. She is super sensitive and maybe a little prone to anxiety or at least too much over-thinking and worrying, which is a trait that I don't know how to handle as well as I should. She's super smart and asks questions that I often can't answer, and spends a lot of time rolling her eyes at me like all good teenagers should. She is a nurturer and has loved helping with her little sisters since the day they were born. She is a perfect match for her brother because she seems to understand just the right balance of when he needs her to step in and help, or play the role of caretaker, and when she needs to let him do things on his own. I've overheard her many times saying "no, you can do that yourself", but she's also the only person that he'll allow to climb up and sit right next to him on his bed, or hug and kiss him. She says she wants to be just like me when she grows up, which is hugely flattering but also so much pressure!

Next over: technically the youngest, by 1 minute. But don't tell her that. This kid is a bulldozer, topping the charts for height and weight, and I think if there was a way to measure toddler muscle mass she would top that too. She is a big girl, but all solid muscle. She was our biggest baby - at 7 pounds 11 ounces (huge for a twin!), and has always been our biggest for her age. She is not capable of tiptoeing, you can hear her coming from the other end of the house. She is vivacious and enthusiastic about everything, she jumps for joy at the excitement of new adventures and activities, and stomps and yells very loudly when she is displeased. She is my best eater by far, sharing a meal with this child is super fun because she is just so enthusiastic about her food. She loves school and loves to learn, but she is also super emotional and wears her heart on her sleeve. I had never before seen a baby cry crocodile tears before I met this one - when she is unhappy the world is going to know it.

And last is her twin. She is the littlest. Small, but fierce. Her pre-k teacher described her as quiet but mighty. She is full of sweetness and love and is super gentle and meticulous in her work. She has always entertained herself and played by herself really well, even as a little baby. I was amazed to see her lining up animals and pretending to feed them at a super young age. She is momma's girl. She tells me that she doesn't want to get bigger because she wants momma to always be able to hold her. She definitely knows how to get me right where I live. I think when you have a health scare with a child it makes you want to hold them just a little closer and never let go, and she definitely smells that on me and takes full advantage of it. When she was 9 months old she was in intensive care for 5 days with a very bad case of RSV ("respiratory failure" is what they wrote on her chart). It was the scariest 5 days of my life. Her twin sisters was also sick, and also in the hospital, but not anywhere near as bad. She has asthma now, probably as a result of that lung infection, so we watch her healthy pretty closely. She has been the most timid one, but recently is diving in to activities as enthusiastically as her sister and it is so exciting to watch.

I could go on and on about these four little miracles that I am lucky enough to mother, but I'll save some for another day. I'm glad you've come along to get to know us.

Keep in touch, if there's ever anything you want to chat about. I'm happy to answer whatever questions I can about twins, parenting, autism, whatever.

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Lisa Marsh is a former corporate marketing manager who is now pursuing her original lifelong dream of being the very best mom she can be to her four kids: two sets of twins! She blogs about twins, parenting, and autism on Another Normal Day, and she blogs about cooking for a big family, school lunches, cooking tips, and home organization on What Lisa Cooks.